New Zealand Report Calls for "Real Jobs with Real Pay"
By Robyn Hunt (robyn@iecho.co.nz)
Vocational services in New Zealand will focus more closely on employment, with the outcomes of services being real jobs for real pay.
Launching Pathways to Inclusion: Improving Vocational Services for People with Disabilities, Ruth Dyson, Minister for disability issues, said people with disabilities had made it very clear during the vocational services review that they wanted services that helped them find work.
"We will do everything we can to make sure people with disabilities have the opportunity to gain real skills and real jobs, with the same rights and conditions as other workers."
As part of this commitment, Ruth Dyson said the government would repeal the Disabled Persons Employment Act 1960.
"The act treats people with disabilities unfairly by giving sheltered workplaces a blanket exemption from minumum wage and holiday provisions for their workers. Its repeal is a long-awaited change that recognises the human rights of people with disabilities and shows government's commitment to a fully inclusive society."
Around 3500 people with disabilities participate in sheltered workshops. There are 45 approved providers and 262 workshops throughout the country.
"When the act is repealed, people with disabilities in an employment relationship will have the same rights and entitlements as everyone else. Those people whose productivity is not suffificent to earn the minimum wage will be able to apply for an under-rate workers' permit."
Ms Dyson said that the Act would be repealed next year, with resulting changes being phased in over five years.
Disabled people and advocacy groups have called for the repeal of the DPEP Act for some years. They criticized it as out of date, and identified it as being glaringly inconsistent with New Zealand's Human Rights legislation.
The sharper focus on employment outcomes means that services which are primarily focused on respite, personal care, therapy, rehabilitation as a result of treatment, recreation and leisure, should not be funded by the Department of Work and Income through its vocational services allocation.
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